Lionel Messi hailed his Ballon d'Or success as a triumph for his beloved FC Barcelona and their youth system after the Catalan club dominated the voting for this year's award.

Messi edged last year's winner Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid in the poll for Europe's top footballer of the year, organised by France Football magazine. The 22-year-old, who was firm favourite for the prize having finished second in 2007 and 2008, was keen to share the plaudits around his team-mates, though. Xavi finished third in the voting while his midfield partner Andres Iniesta was fourth and striker Samuel Eto'o, who was also a key part of the Barça team that won an unprecedented treble last season before moving to Inter Milan this summer, was fifth.

He has all the attributes. He's tough, skilful, scores goals, is good with his head, understands the game...to be among the best you need to be good at all things and he has that.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola on Lionel Messi

"To have the recognition of being the best player in the world is something special," said Messi. "It makes me happy and proud, but I wasn't obsessed with the award. I knew that it could happen and I'm not going to stop now, I have the same desire to do things well. It's also right that they recognised the efforts of Xavi, Andres and also Samuel. It's well-deserved that there are so many players from Barça up there," he went on. "It would have been more difficult to achieve it without Iniesta and without Xavi. The prize is for all the group, to the youth system of Barcelona because we have achieved everything with a lot of home-grown players. It's important for the club. I would've voted for any of my team-mates.

"Anyone in our changing room deserved to win it," added Messi, who is the sixth Barça player to take the award but the first for four years - since Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola echoed his playmaker's thoughts after seeing four of his side that won the UEFA Champions League, Primera Division and Copa del Rey titles last season finishing in the top five, with Thierry Henry and Yaya Toure also being voted into the top-30. "It's a good sign," said Guardiola. "It's impossible to win these prizes if the team isn't winning. It's an individual prize because the player deserves it, but it is also one for the club, for so many unknown people."

Messi recently signed a two-year contract extension with European champions Barça until 2016 - an improved deal which includes a buy-out clause worth 250million euros (£228million). The Argentina international won an unprecedented treble last season as the Catalan side won the Champions League, the Spanish title and the Copa del Rey. Messi was the top scorer in last year's Champions League with nine goals, including a header in the 2-0 final defeat of Manchester United in Rome. He polled in at 473 votes, more than double the number Real Madrid's Ronaldo totalled (233) and 27 more than the impressive number the Portugal international managed in winning last year's award.

Pep praise
"Messi is a player at another level. He's so young and he already has league titles, two Champions Leagues, the highest recognition that a player can get...it's very good," Guardiola added. "The difference is in his head, in his competitive soul. When he's happy, things go his way. You need to control his emotional state; if he is stable he will have a long career as a footballer. He has all the attributes. He's tough, skilful, scores goals, is good with his head, understands the game...to be among the best you need to be good at all things and he has that. He must understand that it is a gift for him and for the team."

Regarding Xavi and Iniesta, Guardiola said: "Their level is very high. What I hope for most is that Xavi and Andres understand how important Lionel is to their games, and that Lionel understands how important Xavi and Andres are to his."

Kaka was sixth in the voting for the Ballon d'Or, while Barça new boy Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who moved to the Nou Camp in the deal which took Eto'o to the San Siro in the summer, was seventh ahead of a quintet of English-based players. Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney and Chelsea forward Didier Drogba were eighth and ninth, with Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard completing the top-10.